Svatos joins Predators

When Marek Svatos stepped onto the ice near the end of practice — he was busy with health physicals before practice — the few fans in attendance gave him an ovation. It was a nice gesture, and wishful thinking as well. The Predators plucked Svatos off waivers from St. Louis yesterday to score goals and boost their sagging offense. Svatos did travel with the team to Minnesota for their Friday game against the Wild.

Nashville hopes he can regain some of the form that saw him score 32 goals in 2005-06.

“The team is pretty talented, they have some injuries. At the beginning of the season they were doing really well, so unfortunately they have some key players out and that hurt them, but they’re still playing well,” Svatos said. “They’re only a few points away from the playoffs. I’m going to try to fit in and do whatever I can to help the team.”

It’s unclear at the moment where the Predators will slot Svatos. He immediately stepped into a power play special teams drill before Nashville departed for Minnesota. Svatos spent 19 games in the Kontinental Hockey League this season before his return to the NHL.

Predators’ Coach Barry Trotz didn’t think that Nashville’s picking up Svatos from St. Louis would cause any confusion for the forward.

“He was over there (in the KHL) and wants to establish himself again over here,” Trotz said. “He was looking for opportunity and St. Louis gave him the opportunity we took him through the rules.”

Trotz might be right on this. Svatos seemed somewhat relieved to be back in the NHL, no matter the circumstance. He tried to find a team last summer, but couldn’t, which is why he went to the KHL.

“I wanted to come back to the NHL at some point,” Svatos said. “The opportunity came up and I couldn’t pass on it. In the summer it was a tough market with the players and a lot of players didn’t get jobs and that pushed me to go overseas and play in the KHL, but I was very happy to find a way to come back.”

In terms of his precipitous drop in numbers — Svatos scored 50 points in 2005-06 and 11 last season — he said a lot had to do with injuries and inconsistency. The hope is a fresh start can reignite his scoring touch.

“It has been a battle the last couple of years,” Svatos said. “I struggled with injuries, and I was out of the lineup too, it wasn’t a good time, but especially after injuries, it was hard for me to come back.”

Now he’s back, and he’ll probably play somewhat regularly, at least to start out with.